WND EXCLUSIVE

Muslim accused of beheading 2 Christians in U.S.

Torture, persecution of faithful no longer reserved for Islamic nations

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially.

Authorities in New Jersey allege a Muslim man beheaded two Coptic Christians, burying their bodies and heads and hands in separate graves near Philadelphia, bringing the horror of the persecution of Christians in Islamic nations to the United States.

According to New York’s WABC-TV, the Muslim was identified as Yusuf Ibrahim, 28. He was taken into custody after the bodies were found.

The report said investigators alleged Ibrahim killed the victims then severed their heads and hands, and buried the remains in the back yard of a home in Buena Vista, N.J.

The report said the victims were from the Coptic Christian community in the area. One of the victims had come from Egypt not many years ago.

While the report said police did not indicate a motive, friends of the victims wondered if it was something to do with religion.

WABC reporter Jeff Pegues wrote: “To members of the close knit Coptic Orthodox church the pain is real.”

“It’s a shock, something like this doesn’t happen to people like that,” one resident told him.

The report said police described the suspect as “ruthless” and “calculating” and said he belongs behind bars.

Pamela Geller, who blogs about Islam at Atlas Shrugs, said it “appears to have been a ritual killing, religious in nature.”

“The victims were Coptic Christians and the murderer was Muslim (and we are painfully aware of the status and treatment of Coptic Christians under Muslim rule in Egypt),” she wrote.

“The killing evokes this passage in the Quran: ‘When thy Lord was revealing to the angels, ‘I am with you; so confirm the believers. I shall cast into the unbelievers’ hearts terror; so smite above the necks, and smite every finger of them!” – Quran 8:12.”

Samy Hohareb, a friend of the victims, said, “I leave it for the police and the investigation.”

Authorities said the suspect was found driving a white Mercedes Benz that belonged to one of the victims.

Ibrahim was being held at the Atlantic County jail on charges of murder and desecration of human remains.

WND reported in September a jihadi writer who has praised the murderer of a Dutch filmmaker suggested beheading as a way of curbing criticism of Islam. The report came from the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor, a unit of the Middle East Media Research Center.

Muhib Ru’yat al-Rahman, a senior writer of a leading jihadi forum called Shumoukh al-Islam, suggested that Muslims living in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.S. kill Westerners who criticize Islam and display their decapitated heads along roads, according to the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor, a unit of the Middle East Media Research Center.

“While expressing respect for those calling to boycott European and American products over the release of the film ‘Innocence of Muslims,’ which negatively depicts Muhammad, Muhib insists that the best way to deter people from insulting Muhammad and his wives is to implement his proposal,” the report said.

The writer praised Dutch-Moroccan Muslim Muhammad Bouyeri, who killed Dutch film-maker Theo Van Gogh in 2004 over the production of “Submission,” a film criticizing Islam’s treatment of women. Dozens of forum members praised the post, expressing their agreement with the writer’s suggestions, the report said.